I started my weight loss journey on January 28, 2017 at 301 pounds. This was the day after my grandson was born, and I realized that if I did not make serious lifestyle changes, I would likely not live to see him grow up. That was terrifying to me.

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I had sought treatment from a weight loss clinic in 2014. Their intake form asked for your goals in losing weight. I listed wanting to be able to run again. During my appointment, the doctor said I had done too much damage to my knees and ankles from being so overweight for so long that I would never be able to run again. Recalling this statement made me desperately want to be able to prove her wrong.

I started running again last July when I got on a treadmill at the gym to see if my body was capable of running when I had gotten down to 274 pounds. It was not. My “run” lasted eight seconds before I had to stop. My knees and ankles were in unbelievable pain. So, I gave up, saddened that I would never, apparently, become a runner after all.

But on August 1, I found the From Fat to Finish Line One Mile training program. Its interval training started with 30-second runs and 90-second walking intervals. I had to break those 30-second runs in half. After more tears than I could count, I ran my first nonstop mile on October 3.

I then began the C25K program, but, after a bad reaction to an energy drink, stopped running that program in December. This past February, I started it all over again and finally graduated C25K in May. On May 22, I ran a nonstop 5K and cried in disbelief that I had accomplished this when I could not physically run at all less than a year before. Running makes me feel alive in a way that I thought I’d never feel again.

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Consistency has been critical for me, both in terms of eating habits and exercise. In the past, I’ve given up so easily at the smallest of setbacks. Now, if I have a setback, I pick myself back up and keep going, always seeing tomorrow as a brand new start.

Social media has also been a Godsend for me in terms of support. I’m active on a couple of Facebook groups, one started by Planet Fitness, a “spinoff” of that group, and the From Fat to Finish Line group as well. Everyone in those groups has been a never ending source of support and encouragement for me. I was moved to tears when I ran my very first nonstop 5K (no walking intervals), posted my achievement in the FFTFL group, and read the congratulatory words of support and encouragement. I’ve made lifelong friends and know that I would not have reached this point in my story without them.

“Running makes me feel alive in a way that I thought I’d never feel again.”

I realize now that this “journey” will never truly end; it is a lifestyle for me now that will last the rest of my life. As of May 29, I am at 220 pounds and my immediate goal is to get to 175 before I maintain that and see where if that is comfortable. I have been over 300 pounds for so long that I do not yet have any idea where my “goal” weight truly is.

I have never done a race so I would like to do some official 5Ks in the near future when I am closer to my goal weight, so I plan to start working on my outdoor running. I live in California, so now that I know I can run the entire distance, I want to run across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco this summer. The treadmill has been like a bicycle with training wheels on it, and it’s time to take them off. I do not yet have lofty goals like a half or full marathon, but when I think about how far I’ve come in the past few months, there is no telling what the next few years may bring.

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